Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the Deputies from across the House in various parties and groups for their very helpful and constructive comments on the Bill and for their support. I specifically thank Ann Murphy and the Irish Examiner for all of the work they have done on highlighting this. It would not have come to light and we would not be debating the Bill and trying to address this if it was not for their very important work on it. It really shows the huge importance of independent investigative journalism and how important it is to our democracy to have strong independent journalism.

Most Deputies spoke about the wider issue of power imbalance. This has to be tackled if we are serious about this. I very much welcome that the Minister of State recognised it in his comments. It is significant because often we do not hear recognition from wider government about the problems of the power imbalance. It is important that it has been recognised. It needs to be across government. It needs to be seen, named and tackled. There was a real contrast between the Minister of State's opening comments in which he recognised this and the official comments prepared by the Department. They did not recognise it and did not name it. Included in those comments were the protections in place for tenants. It is correct there are no protections in place for tenants. There was no recognition in the official comments of how we need to go much further to create a situation where tenants have a level of protection so the power imbalance can be tackled and addressed.

I welcome the comments of the Minister of State on the importance of gathering data on this. It will be welcome to hear from the Government on what it intends to do on this. Earlier, we heard from the Government about the difficulties with gathering data and how difficult and invasive it would be and how upsetting it could be for people. We want to hear from the Government what it wants to do because it has resources in this area.

It is welcome that we have been told the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is looking at the role of the Residential Tenancies Board in this. I agree very much with the earlier comments of Deputy Ó Broin on this. The RTB should have powers to investigate this specifically and it should be able to strike off any landlord found to be engaging in this practice or in placing ads. This would be an additional deterrent. No landlord who engages in this or attempts to engage in this is in any way fit to be a landlord. I want to hear from the Government what it will do about this.

It is very clear we have cross-party support throughout the House for this to be dealt with urgently. This is what most people asked for. It is welcome the Minister, Deputy McEntee, will engage with us on how the Bill can be advanced. We have had helpful and constructive comments from the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, about the specifics of the legislation and specific areas the Government wants to see addressed and improved. The key issue is that the Government has access to the advice of the Attorney General and departmental resources. In terms of progressing this further the ball is very much in the court of the Government. We will work with the Government on it and help as much as we can and be constructive on it. We need action on this. There has been a very strong message from the House on this. It is worth saying the vast majority of landlords find this practice absolutely abhorrent, as does everybody else. If we do not address the wider power imbalance and the wider issues in the sector then we will not be taking enough action to deal with this. I implore the Minister of State, who has recognised the issue, that it needs wider impetus from across Government.

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